Is artistic skill natural or learned?

There are many misconceptions surrounding the modern art world. One of which is the insinuation that only naturally talented illustrators can become great artists. This myth can be easily defused when one studies the history of modern art.

Since the development of the camera(camera obscura)and its wide spread popularity in the mid 1800s, the art world began to look for new outlets for inspiration. The days of the renaissance had brought forward the skills necessary to paint and sculpt to the degree of realistic proportions needed to keep tangible records of people and places. The majority of artist before the nineteenth century would rely on portrait painting and commission work from wealthy aristocratic families. The camera change everything.

Once the need for realistic artwork for record keeping had been virtually abolished, art began to take on new meaning. Artist became less concerned with realistic work and art evolved into other forms such as impressionism,symbolism,cubism and surrealism. These art forms in many cases do not require the traditional skills,or natural drawing ability one might expect critical to achieve great works.

Art in todays world is so vast and integrated with new ideas, it is hard to pin point what classifies as artistic skill. It could be argued that artistic skill is the embodiment of an idea. Art is not what the creator envisions but the feeling and emotion of the observer who interacts with it.

It would be wrong to say that natural drawing or sculpting skills will not help an artist excel in their studies. However, mostly all great artist in the past or contemporary, have studied under great teachers.